Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related.

A/N: Oh! Jeez, this chapter was hard to type! A storm passed through and there is 62 mph winds and it keeps knocking the power out! Every time I try to type, the power will go out and everything that I had typed at the time would be erased! So, I'd have to re-type it constantly. It's horrible. But I got it done -- hooray for me! -- and here it is. Also! I have a new story I'm writing:

Where are the Children

Summary: AU-On the night of Halloween, Voldemort attacks the Potter's residence when Harry is a year old. Lily and James are banished to death, whereas Harry and his older brother, Alex, survive and make their way through life-- but with a few twists. Posing as Dumbledore's grandson, can Harry fulfill his destiny?

Overall story: Harry and his brother Alex were separated when their parents died on Halloween. With Harry having split up Voldemort's body and soul, it would be dangerous to have the baby out in the open for any of the Dark Lord's followers to come across. Albus Dumbledore has plans -- plans that involve taking Alex Potter to the Dursley's, causing Harry Potter's 'disappearance,' and acquiring a grandson that does not share his blood. Dumbledore thought it was the perfect strategy -- until he realized that raising a child not of his own was harder than it had first seemed.

If any of you guys are interested in reading it, and do read it, tell me what you think! Please? Anywho -- on with the story!

Thanks go to Torri-Chiobie, wally4ever, LaxGoalie, sln1987, Reanne1102, jeez claudine, Amareth's Shadow, Evil Cat Hater, Hermione-Leia Skywalker-Potter, Blossom1098, amrawo, Lila Mae, Katsheswims, The Unknown Marauder, LoveroftheTwins326, roses4u, Dark Compassion, LunaLovegoss, swirlywhirlynutcase, childoftheorient, little mimi, and Emi-Bum for the wonderful reviews!

Any questions you asked will be emailed to you because of the new rules of FF dot net

Something that came up during one of my reviews was, 'Will Lucius, Severus, and Hermione become the new Golden Trio?' I decided I'll leave it up to my reviewers to decide if you'd like them three to become the new 'Golden Trio.' If you want them to become that, then you may suggest a name for their 'group' and I might choose it. So depending on the poll, I might or might not make a new trio. Either way, I can work it into my plot!

Poll:

Yes: 0

No: 0

Seasons Change

By: xScenex

Chapter 11

Remus reached over and grabbed a pitcher of pumpkin juice, filling up his goblet while staring lazily at his plate. Sirius and James had dragged all of them back to Hogwarts eventually, though Remus didn't mind much because of the cold, so that they could get to dinner. The others acted as if they wouldn't see food again in their lifetime, since they were literally, in his opinion, shoveling food into their mouths. It was actually quite disturbing to watch….

"Wha'sawong Moo'y?" He heard Sirius say through a mouthful of pie.

"What?" He questioned his friend with a raised eyebrow. He hated when his friends spoke with their mouths full.

The dark haired boy swallowed thickly, took a drink of his pumpkin juice, then repeated, "What's wrong Moony?"

"Nothing." He replied truthfully. "Why do you ask?"

"You're quiet. Not to mention you've hardly eaten anything!"

"Just because I don't eat everything in front of me like it's going to disappear the moment I set my eyes on it, doesn't mean I'm hardly eating anything. You should try it sometime." He cajoled innocently and took a bite out of his treacle tart.

James sniffed from Sirius' left, making a show of 'hurt pride.' "How can you say that, Moony? I thought we were friends?"

"We are." Remus said dryly and flicked a pea at the boy in front of him, "You're just letting the food get to your head."

"Oh, oh, oh!" Sirius crowed and slammed a hand against the table, causing forks and other utensils to clatter about a bit. "But you can't say that, my dear Remus, for you let those books of yours get to your head! Ah hah, you two-timing, good for nothing… good for nothing… library worm!"

"Library worm?" He snorted. "Don't you mean, 'book worm?' I believe that would be the proper noun for it."

"Book worm, library worm, they all fit into the same category," James told him offhandedly. "The point is -- You my friend, are…."

"Are what?"

"You know what, I don't even remember what we were arguing about." He told him seriously, and Remus couldn't help but laugh outright at the look on his friends face.

"You're hopeless, you know that?"

"'Course. None of us would have it any other way, right Padfoot?"

"Right-o, Prongsie."

"Stop calling me that."

"Why? It fits you, you know." Sirius flashed his friend one of famous smiles.

"I suppose I could start calling you Ickle Sirikins. That fits you too." James replied sinisterly and tapped at his chin.

"NO!"

Remus chuckled at his friends as he let his eyes dart around the Great Hall. He still hadn't seen Hermione since that morning. Did something happen to her?

He was about to turn back to his plate when he saw the main doors open. He turned, expecting to see the mysterious brown haired girl he'd grown fond of during the past week, but instead saw Snape and Malfoy. With a scowl, the russet haired boy turned around. Why was he getting so worked up? Just because Hermione wasn't there, that didn't mean he had to get aggravated.

"-- and then he looked into the mirror! When he saw that his hair was orange, he screamed like a girl and literally fainted!" Sirius barked out, tears of mirth in his eyes.

James was doubling over in laughter at whatever his friend was saying and Peter was laughing too, though not as riotously as the other two. Remus grinned slightly, knowing what Sirius was talking about. He had to admit, Sirius was one of the best pranksters that Hogwarts had ever seen.

"Moony, quit pouting!" James whined from across the table, "It's no fun when you just sit and pout. Do something! Blimey, yell at us, lecture us, do anything--"

"No lectures!" Sirius looked fearfully at the other boys around him. "Remember last time? And the time before that?"

"And then the other time before that other time--" Peter joined in.

"Oh, shut up." Remus laughed, rolling his eyes. "Who would keep you in line if I wasn't around? If it wasn't for me, you'd probably already be expelled."

"We have more sense--"

"Than that!" Sirius finished for James.

"And anyways, I'm not pouting." Remus told them.

"Then what do you call it?"

"There's nothing to call it since I'm not doing anything."

"Moony, you know, it doesn't help to keep things to yourse--"

"Hey!" Sirius yelled, "It's his Lily!"

James dropped his fork at the sudden outburst, then glared at his friend. Sirius burst out into laughter and Remus ignored them. He turned to see Hermione coming into the Great Hall, cheeks flushed from the cold. Her hair was windswept and was dotted with flakes of snow.

"Oi, 'Mione!" James called out randomly and said in a singsong voice, "Remus has been mi-i-i-ssing you!"

Said boy flushed darkly at the accusation and turned his eyes away from Hermione who had just looked their way. Of course, he wasn't looking, so he didn't see the bright blush that formed on her cheeks. Remus tried to glare at his friends, but they just grinned cheekily at him, causing him to roll his eyes as his lips quirked upwards slightly.

"I hate you guys." He said under his breath when he broke out into a full grin.

"What was that?" Sirius eyed his friend with mock hurt. "That's what we get for getting your Lily to come join us for dinner? Pfft, see if we ever do that again!"

James actually fell out of his chair as Sirius stood up with his hands on his hips, and when he had emphasized the word 'that' he did a little hip thrust. Remus' eyes widened at the scene and behind him, he heard a girl start laughing. Turning around, he saw Hermione practically doubling over and holding her side.

"Sirius! Do you know you act like a girl?" She managed to say when she took a seat next to Remus.

"He screams like one too." James added and winked at Hermione.

Remus watched as she rolled her eyes at him and then began to pile her plate up with some food. Sirius sat back down, now visibly pouting at the accusations of his friends. James on the other hand was grinning madly at the others, and Peter was watching from the sidelines with an amused look on his face.

"So, where were you today?" Sirius asked out of the blue.

"I was just hanging around a few people in Hogsmeade." She replied casually.

"We didn't see you anywhere."

"Well, I'm not surprised," She teased. "I bet you were in The Three Broomsticks with all the pretty girls, huh?"

"Hey, just so you know, we were not with all the pretty girls." The boy countered. "Though we were at The Three Broomsticks for the majority of the time, until James tried to follow Lily out and tripped over tons of people, causing a chain reaction so that over half of the pub fell over. It was quite amusing to see actually."

Hermione looked at the boy with glasses, amusement clearly visible on her face. "Why am I not surprised?"

"What is this? A conspiracy! I swear, everyone has something against me. I mean, remember that time in third year when Lily always knew when I was coming, before I even got fifteen feet close to her? She made sure I couldn't talk to her, and then I find out that it was Remus helping her! I mean come on! Then! There was that time when the house elves ran out of lattice! How can you run out of lattice? Not to mention that time that Sirius stole all of my right socks, leaving me with the left ones. Then he asks, 'How do you know which is left and right? They're just socks!' Oh ho, one who doesn't know their socks should be thrown into one of those muggle machines that dry things! A dryer I believe they call them. Those muggles always complain about their socks always going missing in there! Sirius would--"

"Enough!" Several voices called out, four of them belonging to the other Marauders and Hermione.

Remus coughed slightly, causing James to flush a bright red as he realized he'd been ranting. "Er… Sorry?"

Remus covered his face with his hands and mumbled, "James, only you would have those problems."

Another three weeks passed by, though rather quickly in Hermione's opinion. Nothing very interesting had happened since, except for the enormous snowball fight that went on between all four classes because James and Sirius declared 'war' on them, and also little argument that she had with James and Sirius for once again talking to Severus in classes. What ticked them off more was when they saw her give Lucius' cloak to Severus. They asked her what she was doing, and she had replied as, 'I was just giving back a borrowed cloak' which made James go pale and Sirius started to yell at her.

She had been saved, of course, by Remus. She noticed though that he seemed a bit hurt by what was going on. She had thanked him sincerely, then went off to the library to meet up with Severus as she had planned a few days ago.

That's how the days went now. She hung around the Marauders during most classes, in the halls, during meals, and whenever she was in the common room whenever they were there. She hung around with Lily whenever they were up in their dormitory, sometimes in the common room, in classes, and sometimes in the library. Lily had even joined her and Severus while they were studying a few times, and she promised not to mention it to anyone. At night, before turning in prior to curfew, she would usually meet up with Severus and/or Lucius in the dungeons to talk or just practice with spells or potions.

Hermione was also lecturing the two Slytherin's about their loyalties and had told them what being on Dumbledore's side would prove. After two of the three past weeks, she was able to switch their views around completely, and from what she could see, they would be two of the most loyal followers Dumbledore would ever have.

Not to mention, the Occlumency lessons were going well. To her surprise, Lucius was doing a better job at the lessons than Severus. But the blond boy didn't really like the idea of being a spy, neither did Severus. Then another, more simpler plan came to Hermione's head.

Dobby.

The House Elf -- loyal to the Malfoy's.

She had asked Malfoy about him and was pleased to find out that the House Elf was eager to be freed, but he still followed his father's wishes. After talking to the boy for a while, she managed to get him to order Dobby to spy on the Malfoy manor, Abraxas Malfoy -- Lucius' father -- and whenever he could, at Death Eater meetings. A few days later, at one of the get togethers in the dungeons, she met a remarkably younger Dobby for the first time in this era.

After speaking with the house elf, with the help of Lucius, they managed to get the small elf to agree to their wishes, and Lucius said that if he did what they asked for the time being, then they would free him soon. The elf was all too happy. That's when things started to get into gear.

Life was awkward.

Especially when Dumbledore would randomly pull her out of class sometimes to talk to her about a recent attack, or about some urgent news he just received. Most of the time, Hermione was able to help out, but there had been a few times that she couldn't recall anything about it from when she was in her time. Things were beginning to change in the timeline.

She still had to ask him about the strange markings on her stomach. It hadn't come up yet, and every time she had been around him, he was busy and the business they were tending to was always urgent. Of course, her friends always questioned her about it all, but she brushed it aside, telling them it wasn't anything that they needed to know at the time being, or that it wasn't important.

In classes, Hermione was really starting to like Defense. Professor Ian was a nice man, and he was actually a great teacher. She had taken a liking to him, as most of the class had, and even Severus and Lucius agreed that he knew what he was doing. Though, most of what they covered in that class, Hermione already knew.

That was the problem. Hermione hated sitting in class practically doing nothing while the rest of the class were either trying to get a spell right, or they were studying. Ah, one of the many disadvantages about coming from the future.

That also came up a few times between the Marauders. They would often ask about the future, but Hermione had usually declined in telling them anything, afraid that it might lead to other awkward questions. She had told that to them a few times, and they got the point -- or at least for that time being. They always asked again later on sometime.

Moving on, Hermione had even volunteered in some of the Marauders pranks in the past twenty-one days. She hadn't known that Remus was that big with all the pranks done, but when she was in the thick of the situation, she realized that Remus actually did a big part in every prank. Even Peter did a large part in every prank. The girl finally got a taste of what it was like to be Fred and George.

Before she realized it, more weeks passed, and Christmas break was upon them. The next day, most of the student body would be leaving for home to be with their families during the Holidays. Hermione knew that Severus and Lucius had plans on staying, along with a rather odd group of Slytherin's that she found out didn't want to get the dark mark either. Among those were Jason Parkinson, Regulus Black, Narcissa Black, and, surprisingly, a boy from Hufflepuff named Michael Benson.

Would she ever cease to be surprised? Regulus Black, she knew, had been killed by Death Eaters eventually after his reluctance to follow Voldemort, though she never knew the reasons in why he was reluctant. Jason wasn't a big shock either, neither was Narcissa. Narcissa, Hermione suspected, had only agreed to things because she was married to Lucius in the future.

Hermione prayed that she knew what she was doing. All of them were to get their dark marks, except for Narcissa, before New Years day. That's why they were all staying behind, though they knew that their families would be furious.

Eventually, the Marauders asked her if she was going home for the holidays. Hermione told them no, and they offered to see if she could go with them, but Hermione said that she had business with Dumbledore over the break. Lily asked also, but Hermione told her the same thing, which she accepted. In turn, Hermione asked Lily about how far she'd gotten with James and the letters. She found out that Lily had put off 'meeting' James until about February so that they could meet up on Valentine's Day.

So then, it was the night before everyone left for home and the Marauders, Hermione, Lily -- who had to be dragged over, Alice, and Erica, were sitting inside of the Marauder's dormitory in a type of circle on the floor. Alice was sitting next to Erica, who sat next to Sirius who sat next to Peter. James was sitting on Peter's other side and Lily was beside him, much to her annoyance and his delight; Hermione was beside her, and Remus sat between her and Alice.

James thought it would be fun to tell scary stories with no lights on except for -- how original -- their wands with the Lumos spell, and Sirius agreed. Remus just shrugged about it all, and Peter actually seemed somewhat frightened to do so. Alice was excited, and so was Erica. Lily looked scared, and Hermione was being neutral about it all. She had never really been around when people told ghost stories.

At the moment, Sirius was talking in a low, and quite scary, whisper while he moved around the room, walking silently behind the group. He was at a very tense moment in the story, and Hermione glanced around the room. Lily was actually gripping tightly onto the pillow, eyes wide and body rigid while she listened to Sirius going on about the story. Peter had actually hid his head in a pillow, and James was calm as ever. Alice was gripping onto Erica, who was doing the same to the other girl, both of them hanging on every word the dark haired boy said. Remus wasn't really paying much attention as he was starting to drift off while leaning back against his bed, but Hermione was starting to feel spooked. She looked behind her out of nervousness, seeing the darkness under the bed and then her eyes flicked from corner to corner, trying to pinpoint if anything was in there with them. The howling of the wind outside wasn't helping either.

The girl shivered slightly, then involuntarily scooted closer to Remus, looking once more behind her. She felt the boy tense up beside her for a moment before he relaxed, but she didn't pay much mind to it as her attention was on the dark shadows in the room.

"But Jacob didn't listen to his brother, and walked over to his bed, despite the noises coming from under it. He said to his brother, 'It's nothing. I'll show you!' Then he knelt down on his knees and pulled up the bed skirt. He didn't see anything for a moment, but suddenly, red eyes flickered open and… then something grabbed him!"

Hermione hadn't been paying attention to where Sirius was in the room and he suddenly appeared next to her and grabbed her roughly at the end of his rant. Being caught off guard while being scared didn't fit well with Hermione, who shrieked loudly and literally latched onto the unprepared Remus.

"Sirius!" She shrieked loudly, burying her face against Remus' arm.

James was roaring with laughter, Alice and Erica were giggling, though it was obvious they were glad that the boy hadn't done that to them, and Lily had actually scooted closer to James at the outbursts so that she was almost leaning against him.

Hermione didn't take any of this in of course, as she was trying to control her breathing and shaking. That's it, she thought to herself, I'm never going to sit in a room full of people who're telling scary stories ever again!

"Jeez Hermione, I didn't mean to scare you that bad." Sirius told her while ruffling his hair as James burst into laughter once more.

The brown haired girl looked up at the guilty looking boy and glared, "Why did you do that?"

"Well, it's all part of the fun and games, love."

"Fun and games, my arse." She cursed under her breath as Sirius grinned at her then resumed walking around while talking in a low voice again.

Hermione wasn't listening at the moment. She was still angry at being embarrassed like that. She sat up slightly, taking most of her weight off of the surprised and red-faced Remus. "Sorry."

"It's fine." He told her in a soft voice.

Hermione watched as he reached back a bit towards the bed behind them and tugged the red comforter off of it with little difficulty, then, to Hermione's amusement, he wrapped it around her gently.

She rose an eyebrow at the boy, questioning him, but he just avoided eye contact. Hermione inwardly grinned and decided to make herself even more comfortable. She leaned against Remus so that the back of her head was resting against his shoulder. She didn't see his face, but she knew his cheeks had turned a bright shade of red.

Soon, the girl was unaware that she was drifting off to sleep, all voices of the story telling muffled in her ears as she buried herself deeper into the warmth of Remus' blanket and snuggled up against him without realizing it, or even caring.

It was nearly two hours after the escapade of Sirius scaring Hermione. James had just finished telling a remotely scary story, and they decided to call it quits for the night, since all of them would have to get up early to pack their things for the holidays. When they started to get up and move about in the dark room, none of them noticed the two figures curled up together until they lit turned on a light.

Remus sat, leaning back against his bed with Hermione resting beside him, her head laying on his shoulder. Remus' head had tilted downwards slightly in his slumber, causing it to rest against the girls brown locks. His arm had unconsciously wrapped itself around the girl, pulling her closer to him in their sleep.

"Aw, lookie here, Prongsie. Lil' Moony is all grown up and in love!" Sirius cooed as he tossed a pillow back onto his bed that he'd attacked James with an hour prior.

James grinned at his friend, "We knew that he liked her."

Sirius smiled back at his friends, and said in an undertone that was completely serious, "It's about time for him to find someone."

"I agree," mused James as he looked down at the sleeping form of Lily.

Sirius, instead of looking at any of the sleeping girls, began rummaging around in his trunk until he found a camera. Pulling it out, he caught James' eye and grinned mischievously. Tiptoeing over to where Remus and Hermione lay, he aimed the camera and took a picture. The flash of light didn't wake them up, but the werewolf shifted slightly and tightened his hold around the girl, who in turn, cuddled closer in her sleep.

The two remaining marauders who were awake smiled at one another. Sirius took another picture, though at a different angle. "We can tease him about this for forever!"

"Yeah, but in the meantime, what do we do about them?" James asked and pointed to the four sleeping forms. Erica and Alice had already left the dormitory, Peter lay sprawled out on the floor, snoring slightly.

"Well, you wake Pete up, and I'll get Remus up. Then you can find out what to do about Lily, and Remus'll find out what to do about Hermione."

"Right." James mumbled, then walked over to the form of Peter laying on the floor.

Sirius went over to Remus, prodding him in the side where he was ticklish. The werewolf's eyes snapped open then, unfocused. When he saw the face of his friend staring at him, he shook his head and tried to get up, but was shocked to feel a comfortable weight against him. Looking down, he saw a brown haired girl curled up against him.

"Did you have a nice nap, Moony?" Teased Sirius, who winked at the boy.

"Uh. I-I--" Remus began to stutter but shut his mouth when Hermione began to stir.

"You need to find out what you're going to do about her. I don't think you two would like sleeping like this all night; you'll get bad cramps in your necks."

In the end, the boys thought it would be best to just let the girls sleep, so James levitated Lily onto his bed, and Remus did the same with Hermione. After making sure that the girls were comfortable, the boys transfigured themselves mattresses on the floor with blankets and they all decided to go to sleep.

Upon laying down in the dark room, Remus wrapped his covers tightly around his body. He wasn't exactly cold, it was more of the fact that he was missing the warmth and weight of Hermione laying beside him. He knew it wasn't right for him to think of her in any way other than a friend, but he couldn't help but miss the feeling; it was something that he'd longed for.

Sighing inwardly, Remus rolled over on his side, burying his face against his pillow and drifted off to sleep.

Hermione yawned and stretched as she began to wake up. She felt oddly refreshed and comfortable. The girl opened her eyes slightly to look at her bedside table and see what time it was, but when she looked over, she saw that her clock was missing. Where was her clock? She turned to look the other way, and saw the red hair that belonged to Lily sticking out from under her blanket. Nothing seemed out of place…

She pulled her blankets off, oddly enough, she found that she was still wearing her clothes from yesterday. What happened last night…? Then she froze, spotting a head of light brown hair sticking out from under a blanket on the floor.

Hermione's eyes widened as she realized that she had fallen asleep the night before when the boys were telling scary stories and that she was more than likely laying in Remus' bed. Groaning inwardly, she slipped off of her bed and made her way to where Lily was.

"Lily." She whispered as quietly as she could, seeing that James was laying on the floor next to the bed.

She heard a soft muffled voice, but nothing else.

"Lily!"

"Huh?" The girl pulled her blanket down off of her head and blinked blurrily up at Hermione. "What is it?"

"Lily, we're not in our dormitories." Hermione jerked her head towards the boy laying on the floor.

The redhead shifted so that she could look down, then her face paled at a rather fast pace. "W-We're in the b-boys dormitories still?"

"Uh huh."

"B-But…"

"We fell asleep last night and they didn't want to wake us up." Hermione rolled her eyes a bit and flopped down on the edge of James' bed that was now being occupied by Lily. She decided to point it out-- "You know, you slept in James' bed."

"What!"

"Don't 'what' me. You should be happy." Hermione teased her friend. Lily was now blushing a color that matched her hair, and she mused that the girl could probably make the Weasley's proud by it. "So… how do you think we should wake them up?"

"Huh?"

"Wake them up." Hermione said, pointing to each of the boys in turn.

"Oh." The girl looked around for a moment, unsure, then a gleeful look appeared on her face. "I've always wanted to get James back for all those times he'd prank me."

Hermione grinned, "So what's the plan?"

Lily looked at Hermione, grinning evilly, "I have the perfect plan…."